Steampunk at Fan Expo Canada

Steampunk in Motion

Steampunk is a shapeshifter. A sub-genre of science fiction, it can wrap itself around any genre form of fandom you can name. Steampunk Batman? No problem. Steampunk Harry Potter? Yep. Steampunk Pride and Prejudice? Done that. Steampunk imagines a world where Victorian clothing and manners are overlaid with the inventions of H.G. Wells, Jules Vernes and other writers who imagined a clockwork world in which airships, wind-up automatons and crackpot contraptions exist. A parallel world of imagination and craftsmanship.

Steampunk was out in full, sub-genre force at the Fan Expo Canada 2016. At the expo, fans of every single movie, book, video game, anime comic or board game you can name showed up dressed as a character from those past times. See the photo gallery below for a sampling. This year women dressed a Harley Quinn and men (and women) as Jared Leto’s version of the Joker were everywhere. Some of the costumes take months to create.

Meanwhile, the steampunkers I met at the expo created their own characters for themselves. While there are steampunk characters in modern entertainment (Robert Downey Junior’s Sherlock Holmes, Lily James’ Elizabeth Bennet), none sport the brass, leather, googles and lens of full-on steampunk attire. That will change. It’s only a matter of alternate time. Oh, and yes, this all ties in with our Strange Copper Cylinders of Thaddeus Barnes, our very own Canadian steampunk treasure hunt.

Steampunk on Parade

Wayne MacPhail, Digital Brand Strategist
Wayne is a digital strategist with extensive experience in traditional, online and communication strategy development. He has assisted clients like Random House (where he helped establish digital outreach programs), the Association of Science and Technology Centers, McMaster Family Medicine, rabble.ca, University of Toronto, Engineering reimagine their communications strategies for an emerging media landscape and new audiences. Wayne brings three decades of rich media content creation, a background in journalism and the ability to creatively understand brand and messaging and create new platforms and opportunities for Moongate’s clients. He has taught and developed online content creation and communications for a variety of colleges and universities in Ontario.